Circle Journals - Grace

Cindy B.'s Page

Jan's Page

Under the words on the white vellum is a photos of Jan as a little girl.

My page (Cyndi)

I have recently reconnected with two friends of mine who live in Michigan, Jan and Cindy. I used to live in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a short period of time from 1995 to 1997. After moving away I lost contact with these two amazing women. Thanks to Facebook and websites, we connected again a few months ago.

Both of these women are wonderfully creative and I suggested that we resume our relationship through making Circle Journals. For those of you who do not know what Circle Journals are I will try and explain. Any number of people decide to participate in a Circle Journal. Usually a theme or a variety of themes are chosen and the participants make art pages on those themes. A fixed size of journal paper is decided upon at the beginning. Each person makes a page for the other participants as well as themselves. Our Circle Journal group decided upon a 9 x 12 inch format using watercolor paper as our base. We decided to choose a different theme for each month and to work on the Journals for at least six months. We have a month to work on the page and then send each other a page by the end of each month.

We are hoping that sometime this summer we will be able to somehow meet together and design covers for our journals and then get them bound. It will be a time of reunion and remembrance and appreciate for the time, talent and friendship we have experienced during the time we have worked on our Circle Journals.

Our first theme was GRACE. The pages that we created are shown above. They do not do the pages complete justice as both Jan and Cindy's pages are interactive and opening the doors and panels on their pages are part of the experience. On the back of Cindy's page she wrote this poem in beautiful calligraphy:

sunnrise, sunset ceaseless;
seasons transform.

lunar revolutions,
tides ebb and flow.

often disregarded
yet unfailing;

grace in their wake.

Our next theme is PLAY. I am anxiously awaiting the pages from Jan and Cindy and will share them with you here on my blog when they arrive.

I would encourage anyone to get some friends together and try a Circle Journal. It is great fun, artistically challenging, makes getting mail WAY more fun, not to mention the great art journal you will have when all is said and done.

Give it a try! I would love to hear from any of you who have participated in a Circle Journal. Leave a comment here with a link to any journals in which you have participated. I would love to see your journals.